Ranks 92nd on The Fictional
100
The following books and film will introduce you to Scarlett O'Hara, who
said these words in Margaret Mitchell's Gone With the Wind. To order a book or film, or for more information, follow the title links to Amazon.com,
then return home to browse other
characters.
- Mitchell, Margaret. Gone
With the Wind. Warner Books, 1994.
- More and more, this work is recognized as an
American epic of sorts, despite its limitations.
No one can deny that Scarlett is one of the most
vivid (and exasperating) female characters ever
created.
- Gone with the Wind (Two-Disc 70th Anniversary Edition)
[DVD]. Starring Vivien Leigh, Clark Gable, Olivia de Havilland, Leslie Howard. Warner Home Video, 2009.
- There is no separating Vivien Leigh's performance from Margaret Mitchell's character, and who would want to? For all the novel's flaws, for all Scarlett's flaws as a human being, the film must be experienced to appreciate American cinema and this fiercely alive fictional woman.
- Taylor, Helen. Scarlett's
Women: Gone With the Wind and Its Female Fans.
Rutgers University Press, 1989.
- Taylor surveyed hundreds of women who 'fessed up
to their love-hate relationship with Scarlett,
and explained her hold on their lives. What
results are fascinating insights into this
character from the readers who know her best.
- Pyron, Darden Asbury (Ed.). Recasting:
Gone With the Wind in American Culture. University
Presses of Florida, 1983.
- Interesting essays, especially James Michener's
"The Company of Giants," which compares
Scarlett to Becky Sharp (of Thackeray's Vanity
Fair), Madame Bovary, and Anna Karenina.
- Harwell, Richard (Ed.). Gone
With the Wind as Book and Film. University of South
Carolina Press, 1983.
- More essays, covering the famous "search for
Scarlett" that led to the casting of Vivien
Leigh, and comparing the book to another
Depression Era novel and film (The Grapes of
Wrath) and another war epic (War and
Peace).
- Haskell, Molly. Frankly, My Dear: Gone With the Wind Revisited
. Yale University Press, 2010.
- Film critic Haskell brings the fabled film in for a tight close-up, providing a fascinating, detailed account of the filming and examining the personalities of the major players: author Mitchell, producer Selznick, star Leigh, and directors Cukor and Fleming. She also pans back to take the sweep of the film's effect on gender politics and racial discourse in America.
- Ripley, Alexandra. Scarlett:
The Sequel to Margaret Mitchell's Gone With the Wind.
Warner, 1992.
- Ripley's audacious sequel follows Scarlett to
Ireland where she seeks the roots of Tara (and,
not surprisingly, encounters Rhett again).
- Randall, Alice. The Wind Done Gone: A Novel
. Houghton Mifflin, Mariner Books, 2002.
- Randall's novel provides an imaginative rejoinder to its illustrious predecessor by telling the story of Cynara, Scarlett's unacknowledged half-sister, who becomes a lens for African-American experience beyond Scarlett's ken. Cynara calls Scarlett "Other."
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